(FILES) - A picture taken on June 9, 2010 in Paris, shows France Telecom's President Didier Lombard (L) delivering a speech during a general meeting. More former executives of France Telecom are to go before an investigating magistrate on July 5, 2012, a day after the ex-head of the company was placed under investigation over a spate of suicides there. Lombard, who ran the company between 2005 and 2010, was told on July 4, 2012 he was being investigated for workplace harassment and put on bail of 100,000 euros ($125,000), his lawyer Jean Veil said. AFP PHOTO ERIC PIERMONTERIC PIERMONT/AFP/GettyImages

Photo: Eric Piermont, AFP/Getty Images

(FILES) - A picture taken on June 9, 2010 in Paris, shows France...

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A Friday, March 2, 2012 photo shows the exterior of Pfizer in Groton, Conn. Pfizer Inc. said Tuesday, May 1, 2012, that its first-quarter profit fell 19 percent, mainly because new generic competition to its blockbuster cholesterol pill Lipitor cut U.S. sales by 15 percent as the drugmaker offered big rebates and discounts to keep patients on its brand. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola)

SMART PHONES

Amazon device in development

Amazon.com Inc. is developing a smart phone that would vie with Apple Inc.'s iPhone and handheld devices that run Google Inc.'s Android operating system, two people with knowledge of the matter said.

Foxconn International Holdings Ltd., the Chinese mobile-phone maker, is working with Amazon on the device, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the plans are private.

Amazon is seeking to complement the smart-phone strategy by acquiring patents that cover wireless technology and would help it defend against allegations of infringement, other people with knowledge of the matter said.

A smart phone would give Amazon a wider range of low-priced hardware devices that bolster its strategy of making money from digital books, songs and movies.

It would help Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos - who made a foray into tablets with the Kindle Fire - carve out a slice of the market for advanced wireless handsets.

LABOR

France Telecom faces charges

France Telecom SA was charged with mental harassment by a judge who is leading an investigation into employee suicides and depression at the country's largest phone company.

France Telecom was charged Friday by Judge Pascal Gand in an investigation sparked by a labor union complaint that reorganization efforts to make the former monopoly more competitive had contributed to workers' psychological issues, the company said.

France Telecom "denies having put in place a policy deliberately aimed at causing suffering in the workplace in order to encourage people to leave," the company said.

France Telecom suspended its restructuring plans in 2009 and Chief Executive Officer Didier Lombard stepped down in 2010 after more than 30 people killed themselves as the company struggled to cope with intensifying competition.

Most of the workers when Lombard left had protected status that made it difficult to fire them and the company instead gave employees meaningless jobs to force them out, driving some to take their own lives, the unions said.

The EU General Court sided Friday with the theater company against Graz, Austria's Jackson International Trading Co. Kurt D. Bruehl GmbH & Co. KG, which won the EU trademark rights in 2003 to use the Royal Shakespeare name for catering, food, alcohol and water.

The Austrian company "would benefit from the power of attraction, the reputation and the prestige" of the Royal Shakespeare name, the EU's second-highest court ruled.

The connotative link to the theater company "would give the applicant a commercial advantage over its competitors' goods."

A lawsuit filed by Walgreen Co., the Kroger Co. and three other retailers claims generics should have been available nearly two years earlier, when Lipitor's original patent expired.

The lawsuit accuses Pfizer of patent fraud as well as "illegal, anticompetitive conduct" with generic drugmaker Ranbaxy Laboratories to block other generic drugmakers from selling versions of Lipitor until recently.

The suit also accuses Pfizer of making deals with prescription benefit managers to limit sales of generic Lipitor.